18 | July | 2026 | The Book of Barnabas

Las Condes, Santiago de Chile. 18.27.

Well, that’s enough mad adventuring for one week. I’m back in Santiago and watching an extremely interesting third place playoff between England and France, which looked at first to be an unexpected humiliation but now it seems it could really swing either way. Vamos, futbolista no soy, but I can appreciate that it’s a very good game that’s being played, even if the news this morning was full of prideful disdain about the very idea of playing for third place.

I checked my work emails for the first time since setting out for Patagonia this morning. I really hate doing so during the holidays – work is all-consuming enough during term-time as it is, without it eating into my holidays – but leaving it unread for more than a week is far, far worse. I’m absolutely the type that needs a clean inbox with no unread messages whatsoever, so it was reassuring that the only messages I’d had in that time were the daily reports about the boarders’ internet usage (which, as you might imagine, is utterly useless for the next eight weeks).

I had a proper rest this morning, relishing the fact that I didn’t need to go rushing off anywhere. One of my ears is still stuffy from the altitude, but with any luck it’ll go away in a few days or so.

In the meantime, Tomás has given me my own key to the house and took me to Jumbo, the largest supermarket in the area, to buy some Chilean snacks for me to try but also to pick up any supplies I might have missed (like razors, for example). After over a week without shaving, it does feel good to be moustache-less once again.

It’s always interesting exploring a supermarket in another country. Target is still up at the top of the most iconic supermarkets I’ve encountered, if only because it was just so effortlessly American – and, of course, I’d heard about it and seen it referred to in so much American media before.

In its supermarkets – much like everything else – Chile feels altogether more European than, say, Peru. Self checkouts, online shopping pickup points… it’s all very familiar. There are some notable differences: namely, the bored guards watching the car park both below and outside from high seats that look more like misplaced lifeguard stations. Chile is often touted as one of the safest destinations in South America, but that might well have something to do with the expected level of security. Where I’m staying in leafy suburban Las Condes, so many of the properties are locked away behind electronic gates and door buzzers. Is it really safer, or are people here just a lot more cautious by nature?

It’s currently 3:4 to England. It really could go either way. Tomorrow’s game is the one that really matters, though, and it looks like nearly all of Chile will come out in support of their former coloniser, since the alternative is their much-hated neighbour. Though, by the looks of things, Saka is keeping France very much on their toes. 3:5! What a hero.